Staff Answer

Unfortunately there is no alternative population size variable for metropolitan areas prior to the year 1986. One partial solution is to calculate an estimate of the population size yourself using the METAREA variable with the WTSUPP sampling weight variable. The Census Bureau warns however that, "Estimates for individual metropolitan areas should be treated with caution. Although estimates for the larger areas such as New York, Los Angeles, and so forth, should be fairly accurate and valid for a multitude of uses, estimates for the smaller metropolitan areas (those with populations under 500,000) should be used with caution because of the relatively large sampling variability associated with these estimates."

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